A summer of song on the road for Yale music groups

September 8, 2011

Musical ambassadors of Yale fanned out across the globe this summer, singing, blogging, sightseeing and making new friends.

The Schola Cantorum, under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki, and the Yale Baroque Ensemble, under the baton of Robert Mealy, joined their vocal and instrumental talents during a tour in Italy. In Rome, Florence and Milan, the Schola reprised the performance of Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" that had won the group accolades this spring in New Haven and New York.

The Spizzwinks(?) embarked on their three-week tour of European capitals in London on May 13, with Redhot and Blue leaving shortly afterwards for Paris and London. The Spizzwinks(?) singers capped off their summer tour in Denmark, singing with members of the Yale Glee Club, who were just beginning theirs.

Photos: Musical Ambassadors of Yale

Schola Cantorum in Basillica Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.

Schola Cantorum rehearse in Chiesa Di Orsanmichele in Florence.

The Spizzwinks(?) visited the American Ambassador to France, Charles Rivkin, himself a former Spizzwink(?). His residence in the background.

The Spizzwinks(?) Ben Watsky(DC '12), Eli Mitchell-Larson(MC '12), Rob Williams(ES '12), David Lim(JE '13) and Brady Williams(TD'14) on top of the Arc de Triomphe with Paris icon in background.

Yale Concert Band members in front of the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa. (Credit: Marichal Gentry)

The band and festival troupe members became fast friends. (Credit: Marichal Gentry)

Former Freshman Counselor Ngozi Joel Nezianya '09 (left), now a teacher at the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, was reunited with one of his counselees, Yale Concert Band President Jared Bard '12, who in turn will serve as a Freshman Counselor this term (Credit: Marichal Gentry)

The band at Cape of Good Hope. (Credit: Marichal Gentry)

Yale Glee Club and Yale Alumni Chorus pose in front of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

Retracing the route of their first international tour more than 80 years ago, the Glee Club sang their way through Northern and Central Europe, ending in Istanbul. In the Turkish capital, they performed with the Yale Alumni Chorus, which was just embarking on its musical spin. The singing alumni finished their two-week tour in Georgia and Armenia.

The members of the Yale Concert Band, under the direction of Tom Duffy, played their way around South Africa and Swaziland, accompanied by Marichal Gentry, dean of student affairs at Yale College, who chronicled the journey online.

Whim 'n' Rhythm took a jaunt through Europe, touching down in Arezzo, Copenhagen and Berlin, and the Yale Whiffenpoofs covered the planet: The group's world tour began in New Zealand, continued across Asia, from Japan to India, and, after two weeks in the Middle East (with Concert for Peace in Jerusalem) and another two in Africa, the singers gave their coda performances in Western Europe. Check out Micah Tendler's World Tour Blog.

Closer to home, two 2011 Yale grads, Cory Finley and Matthew George, had their plays, "The Private Sector" and "Cow Play," respectively, produced in New York.